Morocco Tops North Africa in Open Data Ranking

Rabat – Morocco has ranked 25th out of 193 countries and first in Northern Africa in the latest Open Data Inventory (ODIN) ranking by Open Data Watch.

ODIN assesses a nation’s “statistical offerings” to determine if they are “complete” and whether their data complies with global “open standards.”

Morocco topped the ranking in Northern Africa ahead of Tunisia, which was ranked 68th, Egypt, which was ranked 134th, and Algeria, which was ranked 171st.

Morocco has a total score of 70, which is a combination of a “data coverage” subscore of 73 and a “data openness” subscore of 69.

Morocco rose from 41st to 25th place and increased its overall score from 65 to 71 between 2020 and 2022.

Open Data Watch obtained its data from Morocco’s High Commission for Planning (HCP).

The report, which covers 192 countries, aims to “assess the coverage and openness of official statistics to identify gaps, promote open data policies, improve access, and encourage dialogue between national statistical offices (NSOs) and data users.”

Open Data watch assessed Morocco’s statistical capacity, links to relevant laws, data coverage, openness, and government transparency.

According to the study, for open data initiatives to be sustainable, they must be supported by a strong legal framework.

Morocco’s legal framework includes the Right to Information Law No. 31-13, as well as the Copyright Law Law No. 3405, which amends and supplements Law No. 200 on Copyright and Related Rights.

Morocco has been a member of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) since 2018, and it has also subscribed to the IMF Standards for Data Dissemination.

As per data commitment, Morocco lacks a national data strategy and has not adopted the Open Data Charter (ODC).